Satin Smooth

My mom and I were at Crate & Barrel last week, registering for even more wedding gifts. We were downstairs in the furniture section when out of the corner of my eye, I saw the coolest crazy bedding and I loved it. BUT, all they had was a queen Duvet (perfect) and one sham?!? SO, after calling all over the country, I finally found one at an outlet store in New Jersey. It is on it's way, and I am excited.

But, I got home and put the duvet on and make my bed and loved it, but realized that I needed some new sheets that match. Besides, I think we only have 2 or 3 sets of sheets and we switch them out every week on laundry day. The ivory ones we have match fine, but I wanted more contrast, so I hopped online to http://www.overstock.com/ (one of my favorite online outlets) and began searching for chocolate brown sheets. Suffice it to say, there were plenty of sets varying in price from $24.99 to $150 for the entire set. Why not just get the cheapest set? Well, they only had a 150 thread count. For those of you who don't know what thread count is, it is the number of cotton threads woven into one square inch of fabric. The higher the count, the softer the sheet and better the quality of linens. They last longer with frequent washings and they hold their color better. So, we ended up with 600 thread count sheets for $43.99, a pretty good deal considering in any major department store these would have cost over $100.

A word on Egyptian Cotton: this is very high quality cotton grown in the very rich Nile River Valley in Egypt. The fertile ground provides a really rich crop and then is woven into luxurious fabric. 100% EC sheets are super expensive, so if you see a "cheap" set of EC sheets, make sure you read the label. Just because they say Egyptian Cotton, does not mean they are 100%, it could be a blend, which is fine, but don't pay for 100% when you only get a blend.

To sum it up, the higher thread count, the better, but anything over 1000 is kind of ridiculous and unnecessary. And, read the label to EC sheets, you do not want to get taken for a ride and pay too much for semi-luxe sheets.